Have I gone mad? Earlier this week I had my preorder for the new M1 iPad Pro 11” 256GB confirmed and ready to ship. I even ordered a case and a screen protector which are sitting on my desk. But, as I looked at the pending charge of 962$ (899+tax) I kept thinking….man that is a lot of money. Do I really need to spend that much? Currently, I am using a 5th generation iPad Mini. The latest version with the A12 processor. It does everything I want it to do. I use it for drawing, Hearthstone, Google News, Reddit, and some email/browsing. I would not call myself a power user. But, if the need arose, the mini was able to handle it. BUT, I do love my tech, so after I watched the Apple event in April, I pre-ordered the new 11” Pro model. I determined I was not ready for the XDR display yet. Nor was the wallet.
I psyched myself up for new tech…Until I saw a deal. And if you know me, you know that if I see a deal, a good deal…I jump on it. I was browsing my favorite deal site, www.slickdeals.com, and I came across an iPad Air 4 sale. This deal was/is only available for military members/veterans, so I apologize if this does not apply. But the moral of the story is the same nonetheless. The AAFES website was selling the 256GB iPad Air 4 models for $599. No tax. Free Shipping. This is the same price as a brand new 64GB iPad Air 4. When I saw this deal, I recognized that I could get an IPad Air 4 with the same amount of storage as the M1 iPad Pro 11” I had pre-ordered, for $363 less. So the deep dive into you tube reviews and introspective questions came into place. What exactly was I looking for? Have I ever taken a picture with my iPad? Do I care about Pro Motion? Do I care about LIDAR? Thunderbolt 4, etc. $363 is a lot of money. What was I to do?
I cancelled the preorder. With the A14 chip, the iPad Air is going to be perfect for me. Every single reviewer showed it as capable, if not more so than the current generation iPad Pro’s. Yes, I know it will not be as powerful as the 2021 iPad Pro. But I do not need that power. I need power, but not that much. It is overkill for me. One reviewer stated that it is like comparing a high end sports car to a high end truck. I would take the truck any day.
I will review the iPad Air 4 when I get it. Because that is not the purpose of this exact post. I myself have fallen victim to the “get the best” mindset. And while I agree that you should always get the thing you want, you should be able to recognize if the thing you want, is actually the thing you need. And in the case of the iPad Air vs Pro conundrum, the desire to have the latest and the best, was not enough to recognize that for $599, I was getting a chip built with the same architecture, that is capable of doing everything the other chip can do. It may not do it as fast, or as smoothly, but it will still do all I need it to do at a speed that may not even be noticeably different for day to day operations (for my usage.) And I think that is a question that people need to ask themselves. Do you want something because it is the newest and the best? Are you willing to sacrifice your bank account for your desire? Maybe it is just me. Maybe it is the struggle I find myself in. But, at the end of the day, to each their own. I’ll use that extra money for a 2nd generation Apple Pencil, dinner with the family, and maybe a new lens for the camera.